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Plans to half food waste in Wales announced

Wales' household waste is now lower than the rest of the UK Credit: PA

Plans to half food waste in Wales have been announced by the Welsh Environment Secretary, in a move to become a zero waste nation by 2050.

Lesley Griffths made the announcement as she welcomed the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, Roseanna Cunningham, to Wales.

Scotland was the first country in the UK to set a food waste reduction target, and now Wales looks to follow suit as Lesley Griffiths looks to launch a consultation for a non-statutory target for Wales.

Wales has made significant progress in recent years in reducing the amount of food thrown away unnecessarily.

Between 2009 and 2015, there has been a 12% reduction of household food waste in Wales, recent figures by WRAP have shown.

Wales' household waste is now lower than the rest of the UK by around 9%.

In Wales we are well on our way to achieving our ambitious target to become a zero waste nation by 2050. Recycling is at an all time record high and our 60% recycling rate is bettered by just two other countries in the world.

If just half of all the food and dry recyclables found in Wales' bins were recycled, Wales would reach its 2025 recycling target of 70 per cent nine years early. The consultation I intend to launch will examine the potential to halve food waste by 2025.

– Lesley Griffiths, Environment Secretary

Provisional annual waste statistics for 2016/2017 are due to be released next week. Wales is expected to improve on last year's rate of 60% - the third highest in the world.